spud scones

To have with our soup this evening - the most divine cheese and potato scones! Adapted from the recipe at Jafa Cafe in Auckland, these are a must try.

The scone dough is quite thin and more of a pastry/crust around the oozing filling, these scones would actually be equally good made calzone style and served in wedges. The filling could easily be adapted to suit what is lurking in the fridge needing to be used up.

I think the texture of the potato makes a difference - a rough mash rather than a smooth puree gives the filling its light texture. My filling was quite wet so oozed out a bit from the scone which made them even more delicious, providing a soft and gooey contrast with the crisp crust...

cheese and potato scones

filling

300g potato, boiled, roughly mashed and cooled
1 spring onion, finely diced
1 handful rocket or baby spinach or chopped fresh herbs
1 handful grated Parmesan
1 handful chopped ham
1/2 c cheese, grated
s&p to taste
2 tbsp milk

Combine all ingredients. Add a little more milk if the spuds are dryish, you want the mixture to be a little wet (not sloppy though) so the filling has lovely creamy texture

1/2 c cheese (extra)

scone dough

200g flour
75g butter
1/2 tsp baking powder (correct, they are not meant to rise much!)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp caster sugar
100ml milk

Rub butter into flour, add milk and gently combine to form a soft dough. Roll out into a large rectangle on a floured bench and cut in half. Beat 1 egg and add a little milk to make egg wash, brush one piece of the scone dough with this. Sprinkle 1/2 of the extra cheese over the same half of the dough. Spread over the filling mixture, then sprinkle with the last 1/2 of the cheese. Place the other piece of dough over the filling.

Brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle with freshly ground pepper, can add extra cheese on top too if you like. Cut into 6 large squares and bake at 200c for 15 minutes, eat while warm!

cheese, apple, quince

I love trying out new scone recipes, so this weeks TWD recipe for Cheddar and Apple scones, chosen by Karina from The Floured Apron by was right up my alley.

These are very, very good! Admittedly I struggled to taste the (chopped, dried) apple in them, and using vintage cheddar probably helped elevate these scones to further greatness. Texture wise these scones are extremely light and flaky with quite a 'short' crumb. The small amount of polenta in the dough added a subtle but distictive crispness to the crust.

Next time I would perhaps try this recipe without the apple to see if it does in fact add a subtle something to the flavour. I think it was worth using a strong cheddar, it meant the scones had a good strong cheese flavour but without that slightly greasy texture that a larger quantity of cheese can contribute.

They are definitely best devoured minutes after coming out of the oven, the leftover scone I reheated in the sandwich press the next day came nowhere near the freshly baked experience. I made a full batch and froze half, so will try baking from frozen next time I feel a cheese scone craving comes on...

A spoonful of Moutere Gold Quince Jelly took these to scone perfection.

pumpkin and friends

Scones were on the agenda this afternoon to accompany general lazing on the couch and reading of the paper with the fire going in the background. This recipe for Pumpkin and date scones is adapted from Belinda Jeffrey's Mix and Bake book, I added orange and cinnamon to spice things up a bit. Nice and sticky and moist these are.

Pumpkin, date and orange scones with cinnamon sugar

1 1/2 c flour

1/2 tbp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

60g butter

1/2 c dates

juice of 2 oranges

1/2 c pumpkin

1/2 c milk

extra milk for brushing on top

2 tsp raw sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Squeeze orange juice over dates and heat until absorbed - I microwave for a minute. Combine dry ingredients and rub in butter (or blitz in food processor...) Add dates and coat with flour. Combine milk and pumpkin and add to the dry mixture. Mix gently and roll out thickly, cut into rounds. Brush tops of scones with a little milk, and sprinkle with the combined sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 200c.

farmers market baking and a very nice surprise!

I went over to Christchurch for the Canterbury Farmers Market last weekend to sell my puddings. On the menu was - rhubarb cobbler, apple tortes with cinnamon and almonds, sticky date puddings and chocolate espresso puddings. For the cobbler I tried a Nigella recipe from the Domestic Goddess - topping was flour, cream and sugar - wondered about the lack of baking powder but they worked okay anyhow, nice and crispy if rather flat. Next time I would add some baking powder though as I think cobblers look best a bit fatter.

The apple tortes were based on a recipe we used to make at home. A cakey style base topped with lots of sliced apples and sprinkled with a cinnamon/sugar/sliced almond mixture. Very good with some thick natural yoghurt...or vanilla bean ice cream.

I made brown sugar sticky buns as per usual, and for something different made a big batch of scones (the lemonade and cream sort). Using the leftover rhubarb I made a batch of rhubarb and raspberry compote. Also had a stash of passionfruit that Grandma had sent down from Tauranga, so made some passionfruit and lemon curd. The scones went down very well topped with the homemade preserves and spoonfuls of soft cream.

And last but certainly not least at quarter to twelve I was presented with Mike on bended knee, a beautiful diamond ring and a glass of champagne. Needless to say not much pudding selling happened after this...